4 Months Old

Another month has come and gone with the quickness. I've decided to be a little more structured with this post, so here's some things I know about out sweet little baby Colette:



 

 

Weight & Height: I'll update this one after our 4 Month Well Check on Thursday. (Oh no! More Shots! :'( )

Sleep: Colette is very good at putting herself to sleep. She generally goes to sleep around 9:30, wakes up around 6-7 to eat and goes back to sleep until 9 or 10. Lately she's been waking up and wiggling around in her crib between 2-3, but puts herself right back to sleep in the matter of just a couple of minutes.

Clothes/Diapers (Sizes): Right now we're in 3-6/6month clothes and size 2 diapers. And, call me completely out of my mind, but over this last weekend I purchased a small amount of cloth diapers. I don't know what's wrong with me. I have never ever wanted to use them, but for some reason thought I should give them a try. They'll be here late this week so I'll let you know how it goes......

Diet: Still 100% breastfed. We plan on waiting until she's at least 6 months before starting anything else. Although.. you should have seen her eyeing my cheeseburger on Sunday...

Baby Gear Love: Our stroller. We have one of the big Graco RoadRunner travel systems and we love it. When we were on our little outing in Gatlinburg a few weeks ago, we heard a couple different people say how they "are so glad they don't have to use a big stroller anymore" or "can't imagine pushing that thing around" (not to us, but definitely loud enough for us to hear..). But I really love it. I can put everything I need and more in it, and it's still really easy to maneuver. I really don't like to carry things (purse, bags, jacket, drinks) so I think we really found the perfect stroller for us. And it's easy to take around our big yard too.

Milestones/Firsts: Rolling over! Not consistently, but she has rolled back to tummy twice in the last week. She's trying really hard to roll tummy to back but she just can't get over that arm yet.

Likes: Laughing, grabbing, chewing

Dislikes:...not a whole lot. She doesn't like to be put down in her crib if she isn't tired. But that's about it.

Things I Don't Want to Forget: All of it. It seems like I've already forgotten things from just a few short months ago. My favorite part of the day is when she wakes up and I bring her into our room for morning snuggles and laugh time. Sooo cute.

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I'm really excited for warmer weather to be rolling around. (Minus mosquitoes and ticks) Colette could really use some outdoors playtime. I am a bit worried about allergies though. We took her around the yard over the weekend and she was sneezy and red-eyed. Of course all of our trees and flowers are bloomed out and we live in one of the top 3 cities for terrible allergies.. so I guess I should have expected it.

I got a new camera and lens last week that I'm super excited about. (Nikon D610 and Micro-Nikkor 105mm lens) I took a couple of shots of my niece with it while she was here. Next up are spring/Easter photos. I'm so excited!

[caption id="attachment_796" align="aligncenter" width="401"] My sweet niece, Aidan[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_795" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Our peach tree blossoms. And spider web.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_794" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Our SUPERSTAR![/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_799" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Sweet Girl[/caption]

 

Holy 3 Months and Teething, Batman

Our little pumpkin is officially 3 months old now. My, how she's grown. She's always had personality, but it's amazing how much it shines through these days.



 

Look how fast that hair is growing! Also, we apparently taught her to curtsey this month.

She's happy and giggly (and bubble blowing) most of the time, but let me tell you, last night was probably the worst night we've had in the crying department. We tried rocking her, bouncing her, laying her down, nursing, paci.... alllll the things that normally work. After a solid 30-45 minutes of serious crocodile tears I got a cold wet wash cloth and let her bite on it and it seems to help a little. We finally got out the RazBaby pacifier and that helped even more. So I've officially diagnosed her as teething. We've suspected it for a little while now since she's been chewing on everything (her hands, her bibs, Sophie.... anything she can pick up), and she's quite the droolbox. An adorable droolbox.

In the sleeping department we've regressed a little. She's still going to bed around10:30-11, but instead of sleeping through til 7ish, she also wakes up at 4. It could definitely be worse, so I can't complain there. I think now that she's a little older we'll probably start getting her into a more solidified routine. The hard part about that is that we're not really routine people. We're more of the "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of people, so we'll see how that goes.

We got to spend this last weekend at Nana's house in Knoxville. It was a beautiful weekend with lots of park time, kite flying, family, and food. There's always food. So grood. And this weekend we're going to Gatlinburg, maybe. The trip was part of my Christmas present from Cory. But after last night we're not totally sure it's a good idea. We definitely don't want to ruin someone else's weekend with a screaming little one at night. But maybe we will. Who knows.

That's all for now folks. I leave you with these sweet baby pictures. We're so proud!







 

Smiles, Giggles, and Thumb Sucking

Looks like it's been a few days since I posted anything! We're moving along in babyhood way faster then I would like. Colette is certainly filling out those little 0-3 fitted pajamas these days.



She has hair on her head, she smiles like crazy, and just today, she giggled. Can't believe how quickly things change. She loves her swing and watching the sheep spin above her, and she loves when you stick your tongue out and make mouth noises.

Last night she slept from about 11:30pm til 6am. I think it was a fluke as she pretty much slept all day yesterday, probably just a growth spurt!

As for me and dear husband, we stay pretty busy! We actually left the babe with her Grama on Saturday and had a date night. It was excellent. We went to dinner at a place we'd never been before, 1885. It's a very small little place with local cuisine and it was very delicious. Even had carrot cake with a salted caramel cream cheese frosting for dessert. Nom nom nom.. If you're ever in Chattanooga, I definitely recommend it!

I also spent most of Saturday taking down Christmas decorations. If you know me, you know this usually doesn't happen til late March. I was surprised at how quickly it all came down. Now I'm just going to focus on getting the house scrubbed down now that I can get on my hands and knees and move around without a giant belly in the way!

We're having some family photos taken this weekend by our friend and excellent photographer Ashley Hodges. You should check her out, she's fantastic. Hopefully we'll have sessions every few months so when Colette grows up there will actually be photos of me and her together!

Nana and Aunt Katy are also coming down this weekend for a visit. We're pretty excited about that since they haven't seen the baby in a few weeks!

And that's about it for now. I'll try to come up with something more substantial for you read soon!

I'll leave you with this photo of the dinner I currently have simmering on the stove:

The First Baby Shower

We had our first baby shower this past weekend! This one was in my hometown with my side of the family (and Cory's mom and grandma as well!) and my very much missed friends. I started the day getting breakfast downtown my BFF then heading to get my hair done curtesy of my sister-in-law and Douglas J. Aveda Institute. After a morning of pampering I was whisked away to my mom's to finish getting ready while the rest of the shower was being set up. Setup is generally the most stressful part of any event, but it seems everyone made it out okay.

The shower was excellent. My mom, sister and sister-in-law turned the house into baby shower heaven.

The menu:

• Roasted veggie and orzo salad


• Lots of fresh veggies and dip


• Mini Pigs'n a blanket


• Sliders


• Mac'n Cheese Cups


• Cotton candy cupcakes


• Vanilla bean cupcakes


• Vanilla cake with strawberry filling


• Donut holes


• Chocolate dipped rice krispy treats


• Homemade butter pecan ice cream


• Pickles :)


• And a variety of candy to make up a lovely candy bar

All delicious like all of our family gatherings.

It was so nice to see everyone that I rarely get to see since moving south. I'm a very blessed girl to have the family and friends that I do and I can't thank you all enough for coming to the shower!

Below you'll find some pictures of the big event!

[gallery type="square" ids="547,548,549,550,551,552,553,554,555,556,557,558,559,560,561,562,563,564,565,566,567,568,569,570,571,572,573,574,575"]

A big thanks!

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their congrats and complements for the big reveal on Saturday. We had an excellent holiday weekend with family and letting everyone know we will be having a little girl made it that much better.

We also revealed her first name at the end, so in case you missed it, it will be Colette. Full name will be Colette Josephine, and we intend to call her Lettie. :)

[caption id="attachment_413" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Colette Josephine Taylor[/caption]

 

In other news, we decided on a paint color for the nursery and the nursery furniture has arrived at our local Toys-R-Us! We'll be picking it up today or tomorrow. We're also going to look at cars today. Cory sold his 2-door Civic a few weeks ago as we don't think Colette and 2 dogs will fit comfortably in the backseat on our pretty frequent trips to see family.

This little girl isn't even here yet and she's already draining the funds! Now that we know we're having a she,  we should probably go ahead and start putting back money for proms and college and wedding. And maybe add on 3 or 4 jobs a piece. *sweats*

It's also time to get registered for baby showers. As a first time mom, I really have no idea what I need, so I've been searching and researching the web for practical lists of the do's and don'ts for registries and what I'll actually need. My plan is to make a preliminary list and send it to my sister-in-law, and possibly other mom's for guidance. And actually, now that I think about it. I'll probably post the list here so I can get feedback from any of you who are moms already!